Undated 2011 courtesy photo of Mollie Marie Lenzi, 24 (DOB 04/17/1989). Lenzi is set for trial Oct. 14, 2013 on two counts of criminal vehicular operation. Prosecutors say she drunkenly grabbed the wheel of a friend’s car from the passenger seat and swerved into a median April 19, 2011 on Interstate 94 in St. Paul. The driver of the car Lenzi was in suffered two broken ribs in the crash. Lenzi had been out celebrating her birthday with drinks among friends at the Wild Onion, according to a criminal complaint. A judge ruled in July that prosecutors can’t use the results of Lenzi’s blood test from the night in the accident as evidence in the trial. Photo courtesy of the Ramsey County Sherriff’s Department.

A former St. Paul woman who prosecutors say caused a car crash when she grabbed the steering wheel while riding in the passenger seat pleaded guilty to felony criminal vehicular operation Monday.

Mollie Marie Lenzi, who now lives in South Carolina, faces up to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine for her role in the April 19, 2011, accident, in which the driver suffered two broken ribs.

According to a criminal complaint, Lenzi, now 24, was out celebrating her 22nd birthday with friends the night of the crash on Interstate 94 in St. Paul. The car’s driver and another passenger told police that Lenzi was “really drunk” and that they saw her jerk the steering wheel right before crashing into the I-94 median, the complaint said.

Lenzi was scheduled for a jury trial Monday but pleaded guilty before it started. Her attorney had earlier succeeded in suppressing results of the blood test a police officer conducted when he visited Lenzi in the hospital after the crash.

Assistant Ramsey County District Attorney Lawrence Schultz agreed to dismiss the other charges against Lenzi — one felony and two gross-misdemeanor counts of criminal vehicular operation — as part of the plea agreement.

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